NEW BASE

Bob Goldsborough. Special to the TribuneCHICAGO TRIBUNE

Unlike previous Chicago Cubs managers--who have opted to rent property in the Chicago area instead of buying--Cubs skipper Don Baylor has decided to lay down some roots here, with his $389,540 purchase of a brand-new duplex in the Hudson Place development on the Near North Side.

Baylor, 51, became the Cubs' 46th manager when he was hired in November for a reported $5.2 million over four years.

A star outfielder and first baseman for various teams in the 1970s and 1980s, Baylor managed the Colorado Rockies from 1993 to 1998 and last season was the Atlanta Braves' hitting coach.

When Baylor was hired, he said he and his wife, Rebecca, planned to live in Chicago.

And although the couple own two other homes--a 42-year-old, single-family house in his native Austin, Texas and a condominium in La Quinta, Calif., which he purchased in 1990 for $360,000--they have made a clear commitment with their purchase.

Baylor is the first Cubs manager in recent memory to buy a residence here, which may say more about the position's job security than about anyone's actual affinity for Chicago.

The Baylors' purchase was through a bank trust but confirmed from real estate sources and from a related publicly recorded legal document.

The seven-room duplex has three bedrooms, three baths, hardwood floors, a fireplace, a balcony, a private patio and a maple kitchen with granite countertops, according to listing information.

At the time of the purchase, the duplex was listed for $379,900, nearly $10,000 less than the sale price. Nancy Hearon of Koenig & Strey represented seller Hudson Street Development. Dee Terry was the co-listing agent.

- Channel 5 reporter Anita Padilla has paid $274,000 for a single-family house in west suburban Villa Park. A Chicago-area native and Columbia College graduate who joined NBC-5 in 1997, Padilla previously worked as a reporter at stations in New York City, Orlando and Rock Island.

After renting in Chicago's Edgewater Glen neighborhood, Padilla purchased the 10-room Colonial, which had been on the market for less than three weeks, for $279,900.

The four-bedroom, two-story house has been updated and thoroughly decorated. Features in the house, which was built in the 1930s and expanded twice, include a sun room, a breakfast room and a pool.

"It's on probably the nicest street in Villa Park," said listing agent Karen Cookingham of L.W. Reedy Real Estate in Elmhurst. "It has a lot of Tudor-style houses on it."

Villa Park historically has kept a fairly low profile, and hasn't typically been a residential choice for well-known individuals, who generally gravitate toward buying in neighboring Elmhurst or nearby Oak Brook, Hinsdale or Burr Ridge. However, the village has been undergoing a recent revitalization, anchored by construction to convert a long-shuttered Ovaltine factory into 344 luxury loft apartments.

- Another Victorian mansion in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood is on the market in the million-plus range, at 2118 W. Pierce Ave. Real estate agent Catherine Caravette of BBC Realty is selling her own home, a 95-year-old greystone with oak and maple floors throughout and original oak trim.

The mansion, which sits on a deep, 50-foot lot and is listed for $1.325 million, has a DeGuilio kitchen with top-of-the-line finishes. Also, the home's second and third floors are currently separated into apartments and are easily converted.

In March, the "Paderewski House" down the street at 2138 W. Pierce went on the market for $1.3 million. That mansion, which once served as Chicago's Polish consulate, remains on the market and is listed with Charles Michalak of the Broz Group at Keller Williams.

- Happy anniversary, Bruce Wolf: The Fox-32 sportscaster just celebrated the one-year anniversary of a $675,000 purchase of a single-family house in north suburban Riverwoods.

The purchase, which Wolf made through a bank trust, went unremarked at the time, and followed the $950,000 sale of his six-bedroom, two-year-old custom house about three blocks away.

The wisecracking sportscaster first listed his previous house back in 1998. True to his word at the time, he wound up buying another home that was not only in the same school district, but in the same community--no easy task in a village of only about 3,000.

----------

Have a tip about a home sale or a piece of property being put on the market that involved a well-known Chicagoan or a well-known piece of Chicago real estate? Write to Upper Bracket, c/o Chicago Tribune, Real Estate section, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill., 60611. E-mail: rgoldsbo@enteract.com